Huda hears seven pending RTI appeals

Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) administrator Parveen Kumar on Sunday heard seven appeals filed against the department’s responses to Right To Information queries.

Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) administrator Parveen Kumar on Sunday heard seven appeals filed against the department’s responses to Right To Information queries.

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Most of the appeals had been pending for more than a month, the deadline set for resolution of such cases under the RTI Act.

The Huda had asked all the appellants to be present at the hearing but only one of them turned up.

According to RTI appellants, attending the hearing does not solve any purpose as the administrator only directs officials to provide information.

“The department is least accountable and provides false information on many occasions. Most often, information is received only after a second appeal is made to the state information commission”, said Aseem Takyar, an RTI activist who had four RTIs lined up for hearing on Sunday.

Takyar also blamed Huda for delay in sending letters to the applicants for attending hearing. “The letter is dated May 15 but I got it only today,” said Takyar.

Meanwhile, in order to streamline the system of house allottment to the poor, the administrator has assigned officials to maintain a centralised data of houses allotted to economically weaker sections in sectors 4, 16, 17, 46 and others. He asked officials to assign two persons for taking records of allotted land from the respective office and visiting sites to collect information about the occupancy. For this purpose, a digital camera will also be provided.